Abstract
We have developed a Ch Mechanism Toolkit for analysis and design of mechanisms. The toolkit was developed using Ch, an embeddable C/C++ interpreter with high-level extensions. The toolkit consists of animation program QuickAnimationTM and a collection of classes for design and analysis of commonly used mechanisms. The Ch Mechanism Toolkit allows users to write simple programs to solve complicated planar mechanism problems. The toolkit can handle mechanisms ranging from the simple fourbar linkage to various sixbar linkages. The Ch Mechanism Toolkit can also be used to design cam-follower systems. It is an effective tool for engineering practice as well as for teaching and learning mechanism design and analysis. This paper describes the design and implementation of the Ch Mechanism Toolkit and its applications.















Similar content being viewed by others
References
Working Model User’s Guide (1989) Knowledge revolution
Erdman AG, Gustafson JE (1981) Lincages: linkage interactive computer analysis and graphically enhanced synthesis package. ASME Paper, no. 77-DET-5
Erdman AG, Riley DR (1981) Computer-aided linkage design using the lincages package. ASME Paper, no. 81-DET-121
WATT 1.6 User’s Guide (2002) Heron technologies. [Online]. Available at http://www.heron-technologies.com
SAM 5.0 User’s Guide (2003) Artas—engineering software. [Online]. Available at http://www.artas.nl
Perez A, Su HJ, McCarthy M (2004) Synthetica 2.0: software for the synthesis of constrained serial chains. In: Proceedings of the ASME design engineering technical conferences, no. DETC2004/57524, Salt Lake City, September 2004
Autolev. Online Dynamics, Inc. [Online]. Available at http://www.autolev.com
Using Ch with Autolev to solve dynamics equations. [Online]. Available at http://iel.ucdavis.edu/projects/autolev
Ch Mechanism Toolkit, Softintegration, Inc. [Online]. Available at http://www.softintegration.com/products/toolkit/mechanism/
Cheng HH (1993) Scientific computing in the Ch programming language. Sci Program 2(3):49–75
— (2006) Ch: a C/C++ interpreter for script computing. C/C++ User’s J 24(1):6–12
Ch—an Embeddable C/C++ Interpreter. [Online]. Available at http://www.softintegration.com
Zhu Y, Chen B, Cheng HH (2003) An object-based software package for interactive control system design and analysis. ASME Trans J Comput Inf Sci Eng 3(4):366–371
Yu Q, Chen B, Cheng HH (2004) Web-based control system design and analysis. IEEE Control Syst Mag 24(3):45–57
Cheng HH (1994) Pedagogically effective programming environment for teaching mechanism design. Comput Appl Eng Educ 2(1):23–39
Cheng HH, Campbell M (2005) Effective teaching of computer integrated mechanism analysis and design. In: Proceedings of the ASME 29th mechanism and robotics conference, no. DETC2005-85565, Long Beach, California, September 2005
Design and Analysis of Whitworth Quick Return Mechanism. [Online]. Available at http://iel.ucdavis.edu/projects/mechanism/quickreturn
Cheng HH, Trang DT (2004) Web-based mechanism design and analysis. In: Proceedings of the ASME 28th mechanism and robotics conference, no. DETC2004-57594, Salt Lake City, Utah, September 2004
Web-Based Mechanism Design and Analysis, Softintegration, Inc. [Online]. Available at http://softintegration.com/webservices/mechanism/
Pennestri E. Kinematic Synthesis of Mechanisms. [Online]. Available at http://www.ingegneriameccanica.org/mechanisms.htm
Embedded Ch, Softintegration, Inc. [Online]. Available at http://www.softintegration.com/products/sdk/embedded_ch/
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Submitted to Engineering with Computers
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cheng, H.H., Trang, D.T. Object-oriented interactive mechanism design and analysis. Engineering with Computers 21, 237–246 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00366-005-0008-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00366-005-0008-4